World must join hands against terrorism

Two bombs rocked the streets of Boston Monday afternoon, leaving three dead and over a hundred injured. The bomb attack changed Americans' feelings toward their national security in an instant. The whole world is watching how the incident will play out, and especially if it leads to an adjustment in the US' national strategy.

The September 11 attack back in 2001 made anti-terrorism a priority of the US' national strategy and led to the country initiating two wars.

After Osama bin Laden was shot dead in 2011, US President Barack Obama declared victory in his country's anti-terrorism fight, and the pivot to Asia strategy became the priority.

Although the US has not let its guard down, the sense of alarm has gradually been fading from Americans' minds.

The latest attack, in terms of its location and timing, showed a ferocious hostility.

The answers to questions such as whether this was an isolated case or the start of a wave of new terrorist attacks and whether it was committed by Americans or foreign terrorist groups are crucial.

Terrorism has great power to destabilize a country and even the whole world.

The success of one single terrorist attack will force a country to go into a state of overall defense, which is not only costly but also disturbs the country's normal strategies.

Countries like the US, Russia, China and the UK have all been victims of terrorism.

However, world powers are not in a long-term alliance in their anti-terrorism efforts, allowing terrorism to linger on among these powers.

Even the definitions of terrorism in these countries differ greatly. The definitions set out by China and Russia are the most explicit.

The two define terrorism without regard to the reason behind the attacks, while Western countries such as the US and the UK attach importance to the "motives" of any attacks against civilians.

Some organizations and leaders, defined as terrorist groups by China and Russia, are publicly shielded by the West, which further harms prospects of anti-terrorism cooperation between countries.

Terrorist forces all over the world echo each others' views and support each other's actions. The double standard Western countries hold toward terrorism and the few political benefits they gain from playing with it cannot even match the cost these countries have to pay when they are struck by terrorism.

The vulnerable structure of modern society determines the long-term harm of terrorism. World powers should never allow terrorism to have even a tiny place in it.

Attacks on civilians are evil. This should become the highest common belief in the world. There should be no division in terms of the motives and target of a terrorist attack. World powers should not tear each other down over this matter.

We are here to condemn the organizers of the Boston attack.

We hope when similar attacks happen in China and Russia, the West will do the same.